Uncategorized

blank

Emergencies in Western North Carolina, Including Chief Justice’s Emergency Order

There is no way to avoid hearing and seeing the devastating news about Western North Carolina. People have died; lost their loved ones; lost their homes; and have no power, water, cell phone or internet service. Towns are destroyed. Roads and bridges are gone. Although the news has focused on the larger western counties, cities … Read more

News Roundup

The State of Missouri put Marcellus Williams to death Tuesday, despite opposition from St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell and the victim’s family, the Associated Press reports. Williams was convicted of the murder of Lisha Gayle in 1998. Gayle was stabbed to death during a home burglary in which her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen. The case received international attention due to concerns that Williams may have been innocent. According to The Innocence Project, the case against Williams depended heavily on two witnesses with legal and financial motives rendering their testimony unreliable. Questions were also raised relating to the forensic evidence in the case. The murder weapon appeared to be improperly handled by a staff member from the prosecutor’s office and there was a lack of physical evidence linking Williams to the crime scene.

In 2017, former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens paused Williams’ execution and appointed a board to investigate further. However, current Governor Mike Parson disbanded the board before it issued a final report. Just last month, a new plea deal was accepted by a judge between the Prosecuting Attorney and Williams vacating the death sentence and imposing life without the possibility of parole. However, the State Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, intervened, objecting to the plea and sending the controversy to the State Supreme Court. The State Supreme Court set aside the deal and ordered an evidentiary hearing. Williams raised issues pertaining to bias in jury selection and mishandling of the evidence at the hearing but was ultimately unsuccessful. In declining to delay the execution, Governor Parson stressed that no jury nor court at the trial or appellate level had found merit in Williams’ claims to innocence. Though three Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court voted to halt the execution, the Court denied the emergency request.

Outside of Missouri, four other states scheduled executions within the span of a week, an uncommonly high number, as the number of executions per year is trending down nationwide.

Read on for more criminal law news.

Read more

blank

Annual Report from the North Carolina Judicial College (2023-2024)

I am excited to share the latest annual report from the North Carolina Judicial College. Spoiler alert: In fiscal year 2023-2024, we offered more courses (51!) to more participants (more than 3,200!) than we have in my previous years as Judicial College Director. And our participants were pleased with the content, awarding our courses an … Read more

blank

New Law on Juvenile Capacity to Proceed

The current law that governs a juvenile’s capacity to proceed in a delinquency matter matches part of the criminal law that governs a defendant’s capacity to proceed. The Juvenile Code expressly incorporates G.S. 15A‑1001, ‑1002, and ‑1003—the criminal provisions that establish a capacity standard and establish procedure to raise and determine capacity to proceed. G.S. 7B-2401. The criminal provisions that address safeguarding the defendant to return for trial should the defendant subsequently become capable of proceeding and return of the defendant for trial upon gaining capacity are notably absent from the Juvenile Code.

Beginning with offenses committed on January 1, 2025, the Juvenile Code will contain new laws, different from the criminal law, that establish a juvenile capacity standard, establish procedures to raise and determine capacity, and create new procedures for remediation of incapacity. This blog summarizes the new juvenile capacity standard and outlines the procedure to raise and determine capacity under the new law. More information on criminal procedure related to capacity to proceed can be found at https://benchbook.sog.unc.edu/criminal/capacity-proceed.

Read more

A Common Calendaring Concern: The Unilateral Reset

A question that arises with some frequency is whether the district attorney is free to unilaterally “reset” a matter in superior court by changing the trial date after a date has been set by the court.

At the outset, it’s important to distinguish between the scenario in which the State intentionally resets a case and that where a clerical error results in a case being unintentionally left off a trial calendar. Where the omission arises from an administrative error, the delay will likely be attributed to the State as part of any future speedy trial analysis, and it may be considered negligent, or at least “neglectful,” delay. See Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972); State v. Pippin, 72 N.C. App. 387, 395 (1985). But what about when the State intentionally resets a case after it has been scheduled for a particular trial date? In this scenario, the court has set a trial date, but when it comes time for the State to publish the trial calendar, the case is missing because the State intentionally omitted it or moved it to another setting.

Depending on where you practice, you may be thinking, “Of course the DA cannot unilaterally reset the case. The trial date was established by court order, and neither party is free to disregard a court order.” Alternatively, you may be thinking, “Doesn’t the DA have calendar control?” See G.S. 7A-61 (“the district attorney shall prepare the trial dockets”). See generally, Michael Crowell, Control of the Calendar in Criminal District Court, UNC Sch. of Gov’t (July  2010).

Read more

News Roundup

Regular readers know that I am interested in the criminal prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving 25 years in federal prison for fraudulent activity related to his operation of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. I reviewed Michael Lewis’s book about Bankman-Fried and have posted several times about the case. There are now several new developments to report. First, Bankman-Fried has appealed. Reuters reports here that his principal claim is that the trial judge erred by excluding evidence that FTX actually had – at all relevant times – sufficient assets to cover all customer deposits. (The bankruptcy trustee has, in fact, recovered more assets than necessary to pay all creditors, including customers, in full.) Second, Lewis has posted this “personal verdict” about the case, which assuredly will not change the opinions of those who see Lewis as an apologist for Bankman-Fried. Third, Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s business partner and sometime girlfriend turned prosecution witness, is soon to be sentenced herself. Her presentence report says that under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, her guideline sentence is life without parole. Remarkably, the report recommends probation based on her cooperation. Sentencing Law and Policy has more here, including some interesting details about what Ellison is doing to stay busy while awaiting her (next) day in court. Keep reading for more news.

Read more

News Roundup

It’s Friday the 13th, and a corpse was found in a Raleigh Food Lion freezer earlier this week, according to a story from the N&O. Chillingly, the incident “is not the first time a body has been found in a workplace freezer.” The investigation continues. Read on for more criminal law news.

Read more

blank

News Roundup

The most significant criminal law story this week was the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Georgia. Tragically, two teachers and two students were killed, and at least nine others were wounded. The people injured are expected to live. The suspect, a 14-year-old student at the school, is in custody facing murder charges. The AP reports that the juvenile was previously interviewed by law enforcement in connection with alleged online threats of a school shooting over a year ago. The juvenile’s father has also been charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shootings. The story notes that this is the 30th mass killing in the United States in 2024. Read on for more of the latest criminal law news.

Read more

News Roundup

In national news, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in the federal criminal case against Donald Trump after the Supreme Court granted former presidents substantial immunity. Court papers say the new indictment “reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions.” Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution for official acts that fall within their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority” and are presumptively entitled to immunity for all official acts. But that wasn’t the end of the story – on the election subversion charges, the Court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to “carefully analyze” whether the allegations involve “official conduct” for which the former president would be immune from prosecution. It appears after weeks of consulting with other officials in the Justice Department, special counsel Jack Smith sees a way to proceed in the case, consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Read on for more criminal law news.

Read more